Bettina and Philippa are both extraordinary ladies on their own, but together as sisters and as The New Victorians, they have a powerful dynamic and are a force to be reckoned with. There was no doubt about it – Trudy Kerr just had to have a chat with them on our podcast Mpowered. Scroll down to listen to the full podcast.
The New Victorians are singers, musicians, songwriters, directors but, above anything else, they are sisters – sisters who had to change, grow, and adapt, especially as musicians living in a pandemic.
‘March 2020 was a shock to our system. We used to do a lot of weddings, so everything started to get cancelled. Philippa was also deciding whether to move her wedding due to COVID. So, it became natural to slip into our default which is creating and writing songs. We pitched around 5-6 ideas and continued our research on theatrical production. We wrote a full album which is currently waiting to be produced. We have strategy meetings every three days as everything keeps changing but, luckily, we have the creative hats as well and this challenge just kept us on our toes’.
Press play to listen to the full podcast.
Although they both admit that keeping inspired and the art of creating during the pandemic was not difficult for them as its in their nature to do so, what was challenging was the fact that there was no room for interaction with other creatives.
‘The pandemic has been emotionally and psychologically draining to constantly find ways to adapt. The thing I miss the most is bouncing off ideas with other creatives. We miss the electrifying feeling of being in a room full of creative minds.’
However, The New Victorians are extremely lucky because they have each other as sisters. Although they have undoubtable chemistry and an inseparable bond, both reveal that they argue quite a lot!
‘We just had a massive argument before this podcast! We bicker a lot, but I think it is mostly because we’re both so passionate about what we’re creating. We sometimes need an in-betweener when we’re alone creating in a bedroom!’
On the other hand, they believe that seeing everything from different polar angles is what makes The New Victorians’ work so fruitful. Their different strengths push them to always work harder since they must fight for their ideas.
Moving on to their sold-out performance at Fort St Elmo, Sette, The New Victorians reveal that it was a massive gamble as they had never done something like that before.
‘It was nuts mainly because of the time scale. We were told about it in December, and we had to get everything ready by May for a June production. But it was too good of an opportunity to miss out on. We sometimes look back and we are still amazed at how we managed to do it. The year of 2019 was crazy for us. We had an extraordinarily strong cast and creative team for this production as well which made the experience incredible.’
Both ladies hold female empowerment close to their heart. Questioning where the women in music are, in tech and in performance, The New Victorians are currently discussing to have an all-female song writing camp.
‘London only did this, for the first time, five years ago which makes you wonder that the whole world is behind in this. Feminism is not about male-hating. We love working with men. They have great ideas, but we want to encourage women to be courageous. We want to elevate women without the need to chuck out the guys.’
These standpoints come from their very open-minded background growing up.
‘Our mother had a pharmacy degree and she worked as a pharmacist for some years. However, she then decided that youth-work was her calling and she started doing this full-time. Our father was very supportive of what our mother did, and he went to work day-in, day-out and was very happy to finance and support it all. We are lucky as we found, equally supportive husbands and they realise that this is our passion, and it makes us feel alive. They’re our number one fans!’.
So, what’s next for The New Victorians? Apart from Bettina being 6 months pregnant and her newly-motherhood experience is about to begin, both sisters have big plans for the future.
‘We’re currently working on a new Teatru Malta new commission which might go to schools. We’re aiming to bridge the gap between theatre and education. Apart from that, we’re excited to keep developing. It’s always been our motto that when stuff gets too comfortable or easy, we like to give ourselves another challenge to work on!’.
And that’s the way it should be! It was a pleasure having you on our podcast, Bettina and Philippa. We’re excited to see what the future holds for you both!
